I don't care
by TigerxFox
Summary: Zoro and Sanji didn't care. And they certainly were not in love. Nope.


Sanji met Zoro at the Baratie. The straw hat boy and his crew talking incessantly about their crazy ambition to go to the Grandline.

"The only one who has the right to call me an idiot is me alone," said the idiot.

The idiot was making the biggest idiocy Sanji had ever seen. Sanji couldn't care less, of course, if the man wanted to die was his choice, he was just a stranger he just met, Sanji had nothing to do with it. His body, however, acted before his brain and when he realized he was already screaming desperately to the moronic stranger. The blood stained the seawater in deep red and Sanji's chest tightened at the thought of that idiot being dead.

"Why?..."

That resolution opened his eyes, and he himself became one of the idiots who were heading towards the Grandline to run after his own dream. He thought that he would hide in the Baratie forever, choking in the depths of his chest his ridiculous delusions, until he met the Strawhats' captain and his first mate who almost gave his life for his ambition in front of him.

Later, the idiot threatened and badmouthed a lady and Sanji retaliated by mocking his defeat against the Shichibukai. An occasion that didn't inspire or concern him in any way. It'd been a ridiculous defeat that deserved laughter, of course.

The wound resulting from the ridiculous fight mentioned was getting in the idiot's way. Sanji certainly didn't care about that. Even if he spent more time with his eyes locked on the swordsman than on his own enemy. Even though the enemy had noticed. Fuck. Sanji forced his eyes to fall back on the fishman he was fighting and to remain focused on his own fight. No, he didn't care.

Zoro faltered. Finally, the weight of the blood loss and the effort from the fight was too much and the swordsman fell. Sanji's eyes immediately sought him out in despair, as horrified and distressed as when they watched the swordsman's chest open in half. Suddenly he felt his face being crushed by his opponent's strong fist, a voice from afar echoing in his whistling ears:

"... I warned you before not to look somewhere else..."

And Sanji flew away from the fight. His face ached like a motherfucker. If it hadn't been for his absurd resistance, he would've already passed out. But no. He couldn't lose now. Not now that he'd finally decided to risk his life for his dream. Not now that the beautiful Nami-san needed his help as a knight on a white horse... Not now that Zoro was lying on the ground a few yards away, about to be killed by the fishmen. Not that it mattered.

Sanji gathered all power left in his body to get up and return to the fight scene. His brain quickly registered the form of Zoro being subjugated by the fishman and his legs moved faster than the humanly possible preventing the attack from connecting with the swordsman's body. Then Zoro wanted to go after Luffy. The idiot. Sanji knew the marimo's body couldn't handle that. He went instead. Not that he cared.

Little did he know that the idiot almost dying stupidly would become some kind of fucked up routine. Shortly after, in a kingdom in the Grandline. Zoro fell of an absurd height after being shot several times. Sanji stopped breathing as he followed the swordsman's body with his eyes. Zoro fell beside him and spoke to him. He was alive.

"What, you still alive?" He said in disdain, that happened almost every single day, nothing new about it. And no, he did not care, he never did.

The form of Zoro being subjugated by Kuma brought instant reminder of the mirrored situation against the fishman to Sanji's brain and he again protected the idiot, almost breaking his leg in the process. Frankly, Zoro was a pain in his ass.

Then the idiot wanted to sacrifice himself for the captain and the crew. Sanji's body practically moved by itself as the words came out of Zoro's mouth. He was shaking, and the effort he was making just to remain standing was visible. But taking Zoro's place was the easiest decision of his life. If he were to choose, obviously the swordsman's dream was more important than his own. His dream was a joke, he thought that way for a long time. Wanting to stifle his desire to pursue it, thinking he was weak and all his ambitions, ridiculous, as it was hammered in his mind for so many years. And if he now ran after his dream, he owed it to the idiot who had his chest open and half the blood on his body lost in the name of his ambition in front of the restaurant where he worked. His search only existed because of Zoro's. And the desire to protect him was greater than anything.

He couldn't, though. Frustrated, he told Brook later that he only made a fool of himself.

After leaving Thriller Bark behind, Sanji told Luffy not to worry about Zoro. Sanji told himself not to worry about Zoro. He wasn't worried. The thought of Zoro and his unhealed wounds certainly did not invade his mind every second. He needed to protect what mattered: Nami. But he could see that the Shichibukai had the idiot as target. He left the girl with Franky and went after Zoro. Even though he earlier said only ladies were worthy of his protection. He tried his best to delay the huge cyborg, his leg again almost cracking in half. In vain. Zoro was the first to disappear. Sanji didn't even care.

He returned to Sabaody two years later with a picture of the marimo in his pocket. One which he kept upon the wall for two years. Just because it hid a mold stain, of course. He looked for the idiot through the archipelago until he received the information that the imbecile had taken a ship to god knows where. Sanji's face was permanently frozen in an expression of fury, worry and confusion, until the swordsman magically appeared from the sea.

"What, you're back already? Not that I care, either way. "Frankly he didn't understand why he still bothered. That algae got lost with every step he took.

And when he saw the moss head leaving the casino in Dressrosa by himself, he went after him. Exclusively because it would be problematic for their plan if he got lost like he always did, of course. Tsc, then he lost the idiot. If they left him there, it wouldn't make a difference. His life would be much nicer if they were separated.

Sanji took a deep breath before leaving the ship at Wano's shore. It had been a long time since he had left with a truthless promise and even longer since he last saw the idiot. He was nervous, his hands cold and sweating, but he didn't want to admit it. He never wanted to admit anything remotely close to affection for the imbecile. And maybe if someone asked him right now he would still deny it. But he would not deny to himself any more. He did like him. And one of the biggest reasons for hiding this was to think that the reciprocal was not true.

Zoro really didn't care.

Although he was pissed every time Sanji insisted on flirting incessantly with Nami. Or any random woman on the street. With villains. Marine officers. Mermaids. He hoped they left the nose bleeding fool there. Viola. He hoped he got passionately stabed. Idiot.

Despite becoming absolutely pissed when talking to him through the den den mushi because going alone against the CP9 was " too dangerous". He wasn't worried. Like hell he was.

Although he searched for the cook in Zou and didn't find him. And received the news of his marriage with bitterness and resentment. He did not care.

Although he specifically went to the door to hear the talk about Sanji when he would normally sleep if someone was trying to tell him anything important. And even the captain noticed. Fuck, Luffy. But no, he didn't care. If the cook never came back it was his problem.

Zoro's actions and words might even sound obvious to everyone else around, but living so long hearing you are garbage and not worthy of anything does wonders to one's self-worth, and confident as he sometimes seems, Sanji wasn't the best person when it came to realizing people cared about him. Even though Luffy had laughed and told him that he and Zoro were best friends. Sanji still took each step off the ship in Wano as if stepping on eggs. His breath caught since he touched the ground, as if he were walking through a poisonous atmosphere. He met all his crewmates and expected to find Zoro in every corner, but eventually saw no sign of the swordsman anywhere he went.

That only changed when the two moved at the same time to save a child, in a flawless synchrony. The amount of raw power contained in each of their movements was magnificent. At his side, Sanji knew there could only be one person. And Zoro, who had been bored for so long with everyone's powerlessness, would recognize that strength and speed anywhere. They looked at each other, their eyes locking magnetically. They were together. And, fuck, they cared immensely.


End file.
